Introduction Letter – Online Course

Anthropology 141 – Fall 2010

The following is information to help you succeed in this class. Please read it carefully and feel free to email me (Rebecca Stein - steinrl@lavc.edu) if you have any questions.

What you should know about the content of the class

This course presents an anthropological look at the concepts of health, illness and healing in different cultures. Medical systems are a part of the culture of any society and as such affect and are affected by other aspects of culture, including social, religious, technological and political systems. Our goal in this course is to recognize these relationships and the function of medicine as a cultural system of meaning. Through a survey of medical systems in a variety of cultures, we will try to appreciate the diverse ways the topics of health and illness can be approached. In this is included looking at our own society with fresh eyes and appreciating the cultural and ritual aspects of our own health system.

Topics in this course include:

Evolutionary approaches to health and disease

Cultural and political ecology

Plagues and epidemics

Culture, nutrition and malnutrition

Gender and women’s health issues

Belief and ethnomedical systems

Alternative and complementary medicine

Religion, health and illness

Healers in cross-cultural perspective

Culture and mental health/illness

Chronic illness and stigma

Aging, dying and death

Medical ethics

Ethnicity and healthcare in the U.S.

What you should know about the structure of the class

The class is entirely on-line – there are no required on-campus meetings.

This class proceeds at the same pace as the in-person sections. You will need to log on several times every week. Content and assignments will open and close on specified dates – you can’t do it all the last week.

An online class is not any easier nor does it take any less time than the in-person version. You need to have the time and be self-motivated and self-disciplined to succeed. If you are not sure if an online class is really for you, take the quizzes at: http://www.lavc.edu/virtualvalley/areyouready2.htm?catID=3.

Log on and post your introduction before the end of the first week of classes (if you do not do so, I will drop you from the class as a “no show”).

Log on several times a week after that.

Read all of the content materials, complete the assignments and participate in the discussions.

Ask questions whenever you have them.

Learn some new interesting, fun and useful (honest!) things!

How to contact me

I look forward to meeting you all in the discussion forums online during the first week of classes. If you need to contact me before then (or during the class), my email address is steinrl@lavc.edu. During the class, the best way to reach me is by leaving me a private message in ETUDES.

My campus phone number is 818-947-2538 and if you are on campus, my office is in AH&S 305.